NECA Heroes of the Storm Arthas the Lich King

NECA Heroes of the Storm Arthas the Lich King Review

Past Illidan, the Lich King is easily one of my most anticipated figures in this line.  When NECA announced that they would be doing Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm my wishlist consisted of Arthas, Illidan, and Jim Raynor.  Within the first year I can already check two characters off of that list.  They have mentioned they are working on the next series, so I can’t imagine Jim is far behind either.

I have a decent collection Arthas figures including mystery minis, POP, and various others.  DC Unlimited put out one of their minimally articulated figures a few years back, which was good but basically a statue.  A good quality, articulated Arthas has been a dream of mine for quite some time.

NECA Heroes of the Storm Arthas the Lich King

Arthas ships in a clamshell package and includes one accessory, his sword Frostmourne.  I’m actually surprised that NECA didn’t include some type of Heroes of the Storm character or costume unlock with this figure.  In a game where you have to either purchase or earn characters, getting an Arthas unlock from buying the figure would be a pretty sweet deal.  They did a similar thing with the Team Fortress 2 figures (RIP!), but maybe this was something Blizzard did not want to do with HOTS.

Frostmourne can be held in Arthas’ right hand since it’s the only one with a hole in it.  The sword separates at the hilt enabling you to insert the handle into his hand and then plug in the rest of the sword.  My figure’s grip is VERY tight, so it takes a really hard push to get the handle all the way into his grip.  I haven’t noticed any paint flaking from the rub yet.  So while I may have punctured my fingers putting in his accessory, at least I can sleep well at night knowing there isn’t any damage to the figure.  Hands heal, figures do not … at least not without serious surgery or glue.

The detail on this figure is pretty stunning.  He even has a fully sculpted and painted face under his helmet.  With a little work I’d imagine it would be possible to make an unmasked Arthas since the base of the head is there.  Or course NECA could always be planning something like that as a variant?  Who knows.  Regardless, it is a really nice detail.  Besides the head, the armor sculpt looks completely on model and ripped from the game.  All of the spikes and skulls are accounted for.  His armor really looks great!

NECA Heroes of the Storm Arthas the Lich King

So how is his articulation?  Is it a John Cena five-star match?  Or one of those stiff Ryback snooze-fests?  He’s definitely somewhere in the middle there but closer to Cena than Ryback.  He’s got a very solid articulation scheme which is pretty typical of NECA where shoulders, hips, mid-section, head, and ankles are ball jointed.  His shoulder armor also does not interfere with the shoulder or head’s range of movement since it is soft plastic which can be moved around and adjusted as needed.  The only place I wish he had some more range is in his elbows.  The arms can be straight out, but can’t quite hit a 90 degree angle bending at the elbow.  I’m much more willing to forgive this in a character as armored up as the Lich King is.

Arthas shouldn’t have any issues standing up.  He has a great ball joints on his ankles that allow quite a few different stances.  His ankles allow him to have a wide stance while still keeping his feet flush to the ground.  The giant feet also ensure that he’s never going to fall over.

NECA Heroes of the Storm Arthas the Lich King

NECA’s Heroes of the Storm action figure line has yet to disappoint me.  The figures are in just about every way an improvement over the Team Fortress 2 line.  The sculpt’s details and paint are incredible and I’m so happy with the outcome of the production figures.  Would I take a Figuarts or Figma of these characters with additional articulation?  Of course I would.  But NECA is doing what NECA does best and making highly detailed video game characters for that “sweet spot” price of around $20.

I picked mine up from NECA’s Amazon store.  He’s currently available there now along with Tyrael and the previous releases.

NECA Heroes of the Storm Arthas the Lich King

[adsense]

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Scroll to Top